Proper care of the fish is always important. i suspect the reason for them taking the safe route and closing it off is because of how slow at reproducing lakers supposedly are. I have seen studies that say kenai peninsula lakers may spawn annually though. Either way it takes them a number of years before they are capable of spawning in the first place. I do believe they are one of the more delicate populations of char and you won't be seeing me take this fish out of the water.